


Assemble

by WordSmithBreaker



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-26 01:41:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4985092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordSmithBreaker/pseuds/WordSmithBreaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A spider finds her way onto the Bus and Coulson knows it's only the start of trouble for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assemble

Phil Coulson wasn't a paranoid man, well not by SHIELD standards, but he did sleep with his comm in his ear and a several loaded weapons in various places in his room. That wasn't even touching on the number of active gadgets disguised as collectables.

So it was no wonder that the SHIELD agent sprung to his feet when his communicator went off on a burst of static, gun at the ready.

"May?" he questioned quietly as he scanned the room, "Ward? Fitzsimmons? Skye?"

When he received nothing but more static, he held his gun at the ready and proceeded cautiously. Just outside his office, he found Skye slumped over unconscious. Then he found Ward knocked out at the bar with a bruised face and bloody nose. Fitz on his bed, Simmons slumped over on the arm of a chair. May was in the cockpit, a bruise on her temple as she was sprawled out on the floor.

He quickly checked her ear for her comm and found it missing. As he checked her for any other injuries, he found something that made him sigh as he rose to his feet.

Thumbing the safety on his gun, Coulson swept back through the bus and checked each of his uncouncious agents.

"There are easier ways to get my attention." Coulson stated as he closed the doo to his office, regarding the figure behind his desk.

Her eyes were cold, colder than he had seen them in years, and she was dressed in full combat gear with her gun laying pointedly on the center of his desk.

Natasha Romanov looked every inch the deadly Black Widow that haunted the intelligence community's nightmares.

"It is hard to get the attention of someone who's supposed to be dead." Coulson flinched at her accent. That was never a good sign.

"Natasha, I was dead." he began to explain but was cut off as she picked up her gun.

"I don't care about the reasoning Phil." she holstered her gun and put her feet on his desk, "Everyone dies and comes back eventually. But you said nothing and I had to hear about it from a contact in South America."

"Fury wanted me to keep it under wraps. You know how he is." Coulson replied, "It's hard to disobey the man who brought you back to life."

"It's easier than you think. You know that Fury's orders always have holes."

"It won't happen again." Coulson sighed.

"It better not." Natasha rose to her feet, "Because if you abandon us again, it'll be your body your team finds in the morning."

Coulson shivered as the Black Widow strode past him. He was going to have to prepare himself for the others now.

* * *

 

Four weeks was more than Coulson had expected before the next Avenger showed. His team hadn't liked learning that the Black Widow had strode into their plane and shut them down with no resistance. Ward was especially unhappy with the concussion and broken nose.

He had a feeling on who it was going to be, Natasha only had a few people she trusted and only one was in the country.

That didn't mean he wasn't offended to find four arrows in Lola's tires and trash littering her insides. And the purple paint smeared everywhere.

"Hawkeye." Coulson got out before the concussive arrow struck him center-mass, knocking him to the ground. A volley of shock arrows took down everyone, Ward took one to the head, and a gas arrow put May down for the count.

Only then did Hawkeye drop down from his hiding spot on the ceiling and stalk his way over to the coughing Coulson.

To Coulson's surprise, the other man wrapped him in a big hug. He swore it was to aggravate his bruised rins, but the emotion behind it was warm.

"Do it again," Hawkeye whispered, "And you won't see me coming."

Hawkeye let go, giving Coulson a once over, and started walking away. Only when the cargo doors closed, and his team was coming around, did his hearing pick up the faint beeping.

"Get down!" he shouted just before the explosives went off.

There was purple everywhere.

* * *

 They were in Greenwich cleaning up the aftermath of Thor's latest battle when a cough caught his attention.

When Darcy Lewis stood there with the biggest shit-eating grin, Coulson knew he had been found out. Waving off May's concerned look, someone had to stay and watch Ward, Coulson made his way to the younger woman.

"Agent, so you are alive. Guess Red was telling the truth."

"Miss Lewis, I'm glad to see you again as well. How are Doctors Selvig and Foster?"

Darcy snorted, "We both know why I'm here and it's definitely not to make small talk. Come on."

He didn't have a choice as the younger woman was deceptively strong as she dragged him away, twisting down streets until they arrived in  
an empty shipping yard.

"Son of Coul! I am glad that Natasha's words ring true and that you survived your encounter with my brother."

Coulson had been expecting a bone crushing hug, which was something typical of the Asgardian prince, not the firm clap on the shoulder.

"It's good to see you too Thor. Though I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Coming back from the dead is not an easy thing my friend." Thor nodded sagely, "though I must insist that next time you do not ask my friends to keep such a secret from me."

Coulson winced, he knew asking Sif to keep his secret would bite him eventually but he had hoped he would have time to temper the blow.

"You were busy. With Loki and the Tesseract." Coulson gestured at some of the destroyed buildings, "Then this whole business with Elves."

"Dark elves." Thor corrected, "And I understand Son of Coul, but it would have saved me a great deal of time scouring the underworld of I had known."

"I would like to avoid dying again," Coulson nodded, "but I'll be sure you know of any untimely demises."

"Here." Thor handed Coulson a small steel token in the shape of Mjolnir, "keep it on you always and I will know of your status."

Coulson nodded and tucked it into a pocket, "Thank you. It was good to see you Thor."

"And you as well Son of Coul."

Then he got the bone crushing hug. His brused ribs groaned in protest.

They planned this, Coulson swore to himself, there's no other way they'd keep doing this.

* * *

Coulson had been checking the status of one of the safe houses when he heard the all too familiar roar in the distance, scattering all the birds from the trees.

"Compromised safe house my ass." he muttered to himself as he locked the cabin down and stepped outside, "This is Clint's fault somehow."

"Sir, we're detecting--"

"Stand down." Coulson cut the analyst off, "May, I need you to stay on the jet."

"It's the Hulk, sir."

"Yes it is. He won't hurt me." It was Dr. Banner he was worried about.

"Understood. Don't get killed." May's tone set him on edge, he was going to regret this later.

But he didn't have any more time to contemplate what May was going to do as the monstrous form of the Hulk descended from the sky with a roar, shaking the earth with his landing.

"Hey big guy." Coulson kept his hands up, "Miss me?"

Hulk ignored his words, circling around him and sniffing periodically. After a few passes, the beast stopped and hunched over to look Coulson in the eyes.

Green eyes burrowed into blue for a moment before Hulk roared once more, knocking Coulson back and making his ears ring.

"Guess I deserved that." Coulson said as he rose to his feet, brushing grass off his suit.

Hulk snorted and in one smooth instance Hulk was Bruce again. And Bruce had pants on.

"Nice pants." Coulson commented as he took a step closer.

He never saw the punch coming, considering how pacifistic Bruce had been in the past.

"That," Bruce stated as the green faded from his eyes, "is what you really deserved Agent Coulson."

"That from you or the big guy?" Coulson rubbed his jaw as he got into his feet.

"Both of us. We've been angry since Clint let us know. He just didn't want to kill you again using his fist so we used mine." Bruce explained with a shrug.

"Glad to see you two have worked something out."

"Its been a process." Bruce admitted, "But we're getting there."

Bruce turned, walking towards the cabin, "Come on Phil, let's talk over tea. No need for prying ears."

Knowing he didn't have much of a choice, Coulson followed. He could use a chat with an old friend.

* * *

Accepting the mission in Brooklyn had been a bad idea. Coulson knew that, but with their suspicions about Ward he couldn't let the man accept a solo mission and he wanted to see how Skye would perform on a simpler mission.

And this Cafe had some of the best coffee in the state.

He had kept himself well concealed, sitting outside, dressed business casual, sunglasses on. He was perfectly blended in. He was even out of sight of the Tower, just in case. But it was Brooklyn and the man who was looking for him could find a spec of dust out of place in this part of town.

"Phil."

Coulson didn't jump, and certainly didn't almost spill his cofdee, as the Captain settled himself next to him at the small table.

"Captain Rogers, what a surprise." Coulson responded calmly.

"Steve, please." the other man corrected, "and we both know this wasn't a surprise. I hear about you being alive and then you show up in Brooklyn" its like you wanted me to find you."

Coulson turned to look at the other man and winced at the hurt look etched into the face of Steve Rogers. There was a small part of Coulson that wished that Steve would yell and hit him, he couldn't handle the other man's diappointed look.

"I--"

"I carried your body." Steve cut him off, "I spoke at your funeral. I presented the flag to your family."

Coulson stared into his coffee, "I know. I saw the footage."

"Then why are we finding out about you being alive nearly a year later, and Natasha had to scour her contacts."

"I had my orders." Coulson mumbled, "The secrecy of my resurrection let me head a new team that flies under the radar."

"We both know that's a bullshit answer." Coulson flinched at the swear, "Any SHIELD agent over level 6 knows you're alive."

"Sharon Carter. I didn't know you knew Peggy's granddaughter." Only one person would have answered Steve's questions without Fury finding out.

Nobody liked to mention it but Sharon had a lot of pull, just enough to get away with confirming that information.

"We have coffee in this very cafe once a month. Peggy wanted me to keep an eye on her." Steve answered casually, thanking a waitress when she delivered his drink.

"Coulson, you won't be able to disappear again." Steve stated after a few moments of silence, "I refuse to lose another teammate, and if Fury has a problem with that send him to me."

"Roger that Captain."

Steve rolled his eyes as Coulson's comm went off, Skye stating that they had been spotted and they needed extraction.

"Be safe Phil. And never be afraid to sound the call if you need us."

Steve was gone as soon Coulson made it to his feet, a stack of bills left on the table and a new weight in one of his pockets.

But he couldn't focus on that, his team needed him right now. 

* * *

 

Coulson was tired, the latest skirmish against project Centipede had left all of the team bruised and weary. Not to mention he had Ward backed into a corner and the truth of the man was slowly coming out, despite May being furious for having to bring in her Ex to talk to the younger man.

"Phil," May's voice cut into his rest, "you have a visitor."

Before he could wonder who, exacly, was visiting him thousands of feet in the sky a voice cut through the speakers.

"Nice plane Agent." Coulson groaned, "A little out of date and could use a lot of upfrades, but very nice."

"May, please tell me Iron Man isn't outside the plane."

"There are several."

"Yea, there are a few friends out here to make sure you don't run off again." Stark's voice held an edge to it, "If you try, I will blow you out of the sky."

"I wouldn't think of it." Coulson rose to his feet and straightened his tie.

"Sir," Fitz's voice came through, "the cargo doors are opening. And is Tony Stark really here? I have some things I want him to look over…."

"Im coming down. And he won't be here long Fitz."

"Coulson, I'm locked out of the controls." May's voice was furious, her words almost a hiss.

"I tried to hack in," Skye added, "but something is keeping me out."

"Hello JARVIS." Coulson greeted as he stepped into the cargo bay.

"Hello Agent. Ms. Potts sends her regards and wishes me to inform you that you have a lunch date on Thursday." the AI stated, "I am glad to see the reports of your resurrection are accurate."

"Yeah, I'm amazed that Fury managed to hide this from me." Stark stepped onto the Bus, stepping out of his armor, "I have fingers in every SHIELD database."

"Only the ones he wants you to." Coulson said as a way of greeting, "If you knew every secret where would the fun be Tony."

"Oh, would have saved me some therapy and stuff to know that, you know, you were alive." Tony stated, "I have half a mind to ring up the hellicarrier and see what he has to say."

"You'll only get Hill."

"I know, and she's so much fun to piss off."

Coulson could hear his agents whispering in the background. He had a loose chain of command but Tony's brand of disrespect was new to them. He could feel May's dislike from her spot on the balcony.

"Look, whenever you're ready to stop playing with the preschoolers and come back to the big kids table you have a floor in the Tower." Tony scratched at his Arc Reactor, "And Cap forgot to bring you these."

Coulson looked down at the small book and winced when he saw his vintage Captain America cards.

"Yeah, I talked to a lot of people and nobody could safely get the blood out and nobody was willing to part with a whole deck so I just cleaned them up as best I could."

"Don't scratch your Reactor." JARVIS and Coulson spoke up at the same time, making Tony frown.

"How did blood get on them in the first place? They were in my locker." Coulson questioned as he gripped the binder tightly.

"Fury." Tony shrugged, "He dipped them in your wound to….encourage us to work together."

"I need to make a phone call. Fitz, give mister Stark a tour please." Coulson turned on his heel and tried to ignore Tony's grin.

There was a reason all of SHIELD knew not to mess with Agent Coulson. Fury just needed a reminder, which was Tony's revenge. He had just been played, but he couldn't bring himself to be mad about anything other than his cards.

* * *

 

Raina frowned as she heard a faint beeping from the room she was keeping Agent Coulson in. The machine to access his subconcious was taking its toll on the man as he resisted its affects. Deciding she was curious enough to investigate, though she had made sure to remove any way for him to contact his team, Raina stepped into the room.

Then her heart stopped.

There was a clear card in man's hand, marked with a bright red A enclosed in a circle. His eyes met hers and his smirk was one of victory.

"Avengers." he gasped, "Assemble."

"We're on our way Coulson. Hang in there." Captain America's voice called back through the card, "ten minutes out…..three for the Hulk and Two for Stark."

"Shit." Raina swore as she heard the Hulk roar loud enough to shake the house she was standing in.

She hadn't known the man had contact with the Avengers, otherwise she would have been far more careful.


End file.
